Five Examples of Integrated Quotes that Provide Evidence
to Illustrate/Explain Margaret Atwood’s Style
1. A - Q (Attribution - Quote) This quote format uses attribution, followed by the quote.
Atwood uses short, simple sentences sprinkled throughout her stories, including “Simple Murders,” the wordiest
of the three short stories, which starts with a relatively simple sentence: “He had a thin rapacious mustache and
very pointed shoes” (90).
2. Q - A (Quote - Attribution) This format uses a quote followed by attribution. This is simply the
reverse of #1 A-Q.
“No. Let’s start again” (91) is an example of Atwood’s informal, direct style, in which the omniscient narrator
manages to sound like he or she is talking to the reader.
3. Q - A - Q (Quote - Attribution - Quote) In this method, break the quote in two, and insert the
attribution in the middle. This works well with parallel constructions or sentences that have a natural
break.
Atwood uses familiar characters, such as Queen Gertrude in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, then gives them a
modern personality. “You have no idea what I used to put up with,” (18) Gertrude explains to her son Hamlet,
after telling him that his father was “very hard to live with,” “wasn’t a whole lot of fun” and was a little “holierthan-thou” (17-18).
4. Key Word Quote This method uses a few words from the text, splicing them with your own words. It
adds variety to the writing and is less wordy.
Atwood’s repetition of ending words that rhyme: “chocolate bars,” “stars,” “a life behind bars” is clever and
drags the reader into the catalog of excuses in the short story “Simple Murders” (91-92).
5. Block Quote The block quote is used when the quote is four or more lines long. If it is not overused,
it can add variety to an essay. It will begin one double-space down from the attribute and will be
preceded by a comma or colon if the attribute is a full sentence. It starts on an indent, and all lines of the
quote are indented. The lines of the quote are single-spaced. Because it is indented and single-spaced, no
quotation marks are used to set it apart. A period comes before the in-text citation.
Atwood likes to use italicized dialogue, internal rhyme, and catalogs. Italicized dialogue is used throughout her
stories, but only “Simple Murders” contains samples of all three techniques:
It was because of the chocolate bars. It was because of the stars. It was because of a life behind
bars. It was her hormones. It was the radiation from the wires and phones. It was his mother
saying, You’ll never amount to a hill of beans. It was because he was so all-fired mean. It was the
sleeping pills. It was the frills, on the blouse, under the jacket, over the breasts. It was the blood
tests. It was the sigh, the cry, the hand on the thigh. It was the hunger, it was the rage, it was
the spirit of the age. (91-92).